Liberal arts ‘revival’ needs to take account of non-Western traditions

By Karen MacGregor – Acting Global Editor. This week in Commentary, Philip G Altbach argues that in the current (modest) revival of liberal arts globally, rich non-Western educational traditions have been largely ignored. Ielyzaveta Shchepetylnykova charts challenges and progress in Ukraine’s efforts to implement the Bologna process and improve higher education data and analysis. Nico Cloete draws on data and arguments from a forthcoming book on the doctorate in South Africa to illustrate how unhelpful the raging ‘transformation’ of higher education debate has become.
Marguerite Dennis and Richard Lynch contend that universities need to adopt ‘blue ocean’ thinking and strategies for a higher education future that is likely to be online and international. In World Blog, Grace Karram Stephenson writes about a case in Canadian higher education where academics kicked back against ‘market forces’.
In Features, Peta Lee finds in a recent study from the European Parliament that more work needs to be done to blend online and onsite education in order to truly internationalise the learning experience. And Nic Mitchell reports on the European University Association response to the European Union’s ‘Neighbourhood Policy’. Read more...